Pope Francis asked people to pray for Sudan and that the country’s rival military factions might lay down their weapons and pursue peace as the violence escalated this week.
“I am following with concern the events unfolding in Sudan,” he saidl from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. “I am close to the Sudanese people, already so tried, and I invite you to pray so that they might lay down their arms and pick up the path of peace and harmony,” he added. The pope invited prayers after leading the Regina Caeli, a Marian antiphon he prays publicly on each Sunday of the Easter Season.
Fighting intensified in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum and in other cities after fighting erupted last Saturday between army units loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s transitional governing Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is deputy head of the council. It was the first such outbreak of fighting since both groups joined forces to oust the veteran Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Kayode Akintola, head of Africa for CAFOD, told The Tablet: “The latest fighting heaps more misery and tragedy on the people of Sudan, who have already suffered so much anguish from conflict and war. We echo Pope Francis call for peace and pray for a ceasefire and a path to lasting peace, which the people of Sudan desperately need.”
By Monday at least 180 people were killed and thousands injured. Fighting is taking place in residential areas of Khartoum, where civilians have been sheltering indoors. Khartoum residents reported gunfire and explosions and feared running out of food and water. Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State, has seen residents fleeing fighting in their neighbourhoods.
Missionary sources reached by Fides confirm that the situation is dramatic and very delicate. A source said, “the two coup generals, one heading the armed forces and the other the RSF, who had allied to block the handover of power to a civilian government, now wage war against each other by blocking the democratic process.”
The number of civilian deaths and injuries continue to rise at the time of writing, and hospitals in Khartoum have declared a state of emergency. The UN’s World Food Programme announced the closure of all its humanitarian activities in Sudan following the killing of three of its officials in Darfur. There are many calls for a ceasefire, among them an African Union delegation attempting to reach Khartoum for a direct meeting with the two generals.
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